


How To Disappear Completely

by SBG



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-15
Updated: 2013-05-19
Packaged: 2017-12-11 22:45:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/804089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SBG/pseuds/SBG
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a bad moment, Steve wishes something bad to befall Danny. When it does, it puts him on the suspect list.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> From rainbow_goddess's prompt: _Steve and Danny have an argument and in a moment of anger, Steve blurts out something like, "Oh, I could kill you." Danny laughs it off. Later, though, Danny goes missing, and someone from HPD just happened to have overheard their argument. Suddenly Steve is suspected of Danny's murder. He has to find Danny not only for his own sake, but because Danny might be in danger._ Unbetaed and, unfortunately, not quite done. I HOPE to get it done by end of day tomorrow, my posting date, but RL has tossed me an intense new job and I'll be on the road and in classes all day tomorrow. I figured I should at least put the first half up. *crosses fingers for second half tomorrow, hotel wifi willing...*

The room had never felt so claustrophobic, the perspective flip making it seem the size of a postage stamp. HPD had extended the courtesy of not restraining him, but the door was most definitely locked and he was on the wrong side of it. The dim blue of the lighting cast shadows deep and unnerving, and the longer he was stuck here the more it seemed those shadows would swallow him. And those were all very big problems, because he needed to be out there in the broad light of day, with his team. Every minute he was stuck in here due to a stupid misunderstanding was another minute lost and he had a horrible feeling the minutes were numbered. He ran a hand through his hair and stared at the door, as if he could will it to open. It didn’t work like that, and he knew the tactic of letting a suspect stew in his proverbial juices for a while before beginning the interrogation was a standard one.

Suspect. 

Jesus, this couldn’t be happening. That anyone could seriously entertain the thought he had something to do with this was beyond him. Hell, he didn’t even know what _this_ was, or where they were in the investigation to determine the true nature of the case. He needed to get out right now. If anyone could break the case wide open, it was him. Maybe that was arrogance; maybe it was that he had just slightly more motivation than anyone else and was closer to being ready to acknowledge that. He just needed the chance to. 

He took two steps toward the door, then realized it wouldn’t help his situation if he pounded the walls and demanded to be released like the frantic person that he was. He sagged instead onto the lone chair in the room and buried his face in his hands. He wasn’t a man to regret his words or actions, but if he could turn back the hands of time in this case, he would. He blew out a shaky breath. It was all so unbelievable. His head wouldn’t stop reeling, all of his thoughts on what kind of progress had been made while he was trapped in here. He could only hope that there had been some. Maybe they’d solved it, and his worried gut would be eased and he’d get out at the same time.

Another twenty minutes passed before the door opened. He leapt to his feet when he saw who it was. Then his heart nearly stopped at the expression on Chin’s face. 

“Oh, shit,” Steve said. He could barely get the words out. “Danny? Chin, tell me…”

With the deepening of Chin’s frown, Steve’s heart sank. Oh no. No, no. He must have looked close to passing out or something, because Chin took two steps toward him.

“No,” Chin said quickly, holding his hands up. “He’s not…”

Injured. Dead. Any of the countless things that had gone through his head in even more vivid detail since his detainment. But Steve’s relief was fleeting because of Chin’s hesitation to say exactly what Danny wasn’t, though he figured none of them were ready to put their thoughts out there in solid form. Because the truth was they didn’t know. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all some sort of dream, nightmare, and he was going to wake up any second in a cold sweat. Everything would be the way it should be, not the way it was.

“You have to get me out of here.” Steve paced a tight line, eyes flicking over Chin’s left shoulder at the door. “I can’t be locked up while Danny…”

Chin slid to the left, blocking the escape route. He shook his head.

Whether it was a conscious movement or not, it rocked Steve as surely as a punch to the gut. Chin couldn’t … there was no way Chin believed this bullshit. Not after the conversation they’d had earlier. Steve fell back into the chair and resumed holding his head in his hands. Danny wasn’t even there, and the guy was causing him headaches. Danny _wasn’t even there_. Shit, shit.

“Jesus, Chin, you cannot possibly believe I actually had anything to do with this.”

“I don’t.” Chin crouched in front of him, put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. “But we have to do this by the book. Not only because the governor has stepped in and issued an edict, but because of where the accusation originated. They’ll be in shortly to ask you those questions. Neither Kono nor I can participate in this part of the investigation for obvious reasons, but I’m not leaving, either.”

Steve slumped back, let his arms fall into his lap. Chin stayed crouched for a moment, then stood and headed for the wall to have a lean. It was amazing how much better Steve could breathe now that he had company.

“I suppose by the book means you can’t tell me anything,” Steve said. “They dumped me in here almost two hours ago.”

“No, I can’t. Only after you’re cleared,” Chin said. “And you will be cleared, Steve.”

Of course he would be. Steve would rather be dead himself than intentionally harm one single, ridiculous hair on Danny’s head.

H50H50H50

_Ten hours earlier_

Steve drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, beyond ready to get back to work. Consecutive days off weren’t that unusual but also weren’t the norm for Five-0, given the nature of their job. They were, therefore, appreciated, though this particular weekend had seemed to drag. What _was_ unusual was not being called somewhere for a case by now, and starting the day at HQ instead of at a scene. He wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He hopped out of the truck and leaned back in. He snatched the bag of _malasadas_ and tray of coffees off the passenger seat, then headed into the offices quickly. While he didn’t think the unexpected treats would solve anything, they sure couldn’t hurt. He frowned. 

Perhaps it was that he hadn’t yet established a group of friends outside of his team, or reconnected with people he’d known years ago. Branching out seemed unnecessary, when Chin, Kono and Danny filled in so many emotional gaps on their own. And now he had Cath so close, too, and Doris; he wasn’t sure where to slot Doris into his life yet. Still, nine times out of ten, if Danny didn’t have Grace, he managed to find his way to Steve’s. At first, Steve had thought it was strange, but had quickly become resigned to the fact it was just _Danny_. Who, come to think of it, had fewer people in his life – in proximity, anyway – than Steve did, and it worked. They worked, somehow, right from the start and so easily that life changes were easily absorbed into their friendship. 

Knowing Danny hadn’t had Grace and also hadn’t come over or answered his phone made Steve worry that their little argument the other day hadn’t been as little as he’d originally thought. He knew it wasn’t Cath – she didn’t mind how much time he spent with Danny, and Danny never had any problem barging in whenever he wanted. Steve, on the other hand, had started getting twitchy about Cath and Danny and it all got muddled in his head, but that was another story. No, he was convinced it had been their discussion, which really had been little more than him spouting off.

He’d replayed the scene in his mind’s eye over and over, and he couldn’t shake that look on Danny’s face. He just wanted to make it right, something difficult to do when Danny wouldn’t give him the time of day. The silent treatment from his partner was a big deal, but something that often passed quickly, within hours, not days. Danny was a man’s man – quick to anger, quick to brush it off (unless it came to Grace). Apparently, Steve had discovered another exception.

Appealing to Danny’s appetite for sweet, fried dough was basic and obvious, but at least a place to start making up for it. The worst thing was that even though most times the complete opposite was true, he’d almost meant what he’d said, in that moment; Danny had honed in on that, even if he hadn’t said as much. Actually, after that, he hadn’t said anything at all. Two and a half days of radio silence; it had unnerved Steve to the point he felt like a kid again, waiting for punishment after he’d pushed Mary out of a tree for following him around like an obnoxious talking shadow.

Steve trotted up the stairs of the _Ali’iolani Hale_ , the greasy smell of the doughnuts making his stomach growl despite the way it had generally been rolling uneasily for days. It gave him an idea, though. As a show of good humor, he’d indulge in one and only one. He knew he wasn’t going to fool anyone with that, but the effort might not go unrewarded. He was going to eat one with the hope doing so would prompt some snarky jabs from Danny. 

The road to forgiveness was paved with snark. 

“Breakfast,” he called as he pushed through the main door. “Got caffeine for everyone.”

Kono was on him before he made it halfway to the tech table, grabbing the tray of coffees from him and searching out hers. She was like a coffee bloodhound, that one, and he could tell she’d just arrived. Her hair, while styled into a neat ponytail, was still a little damp and her eyes were not quite as sharp as usual.

“Perfect timing,” she said. “I didn’t want to make a pot.”

Chin strolled up, retrieved a doughnut from the bag Steve had opened and held out in offering. He nodded his appreciation and accepted the coffee Kono handed to him. 

“Make a pot?” Steve asked, tipping his head at Danny’s office, which had the door closed and blinds all shut, exactly the way it had been when they’d left for the weekend. “Didn’t Danny when he got in?”

“He apparently didn’t want to do anyone any favors,” Chin said wryly, then brushed the sugar off the corners of his mouth. “Whatever you did to put him in this mood must have been pretty bad if he’s still holding it against you … and _us_. He was in there when I got here and hasn’t emerged.”

“Neither of us are masochistic enough to poke the tiger, brah.” Kono shoved three-quarters of a _malasada_ into her mouth, so when she spoke the last bit it was barely intelligible. “But, you know, it’s really not like him to hold a grudge against anyone but his ex. You better go in.”

Steve supposed it was only fair, though he was honestly starting to think Danny was carrying this all too far. There was dramatic and then there was dramatic. He rolled his eyes at Chin and Kono, set the bag of treats on the table, squared his shoulders and stalked to Danny’s office, intent on dragging the guy out by his hair if he had to. He didn’t knock, just barreled in, more than halfway hoping that would also spark some kind of overblown reaction out of Danny too. He’d take just about anything.

“Hey, Danno, we’ve got foo…” Steve trailed off, confused. He stared around the office, then back out to the others. “It’s empty. He’s not in here.”

“What?” Chin said. 

“But his car’s here.”

The last thing any of them were prone toward was jumping to conclusions. Sure, in the midst of a case, there was a lot of speculation, tossing out ideas and chasing leads that made sense. Sometimes they panned out, sometimes they didn’t but led to another avenue of investigation. What Steve felt in his gut wasn’t unlike that, except it wasn’t exactly like it either. Danny’s office had been shut up like this when they’d all left. Danny hadn’t answered phone calls or texts. 

“What if it never left?” Steve asked. “Would he have left it here all weekend?”

“Not without a good reason,” Chin said. He tossed his half-eaten pastry into the nearest garbage can, shifted the coffee tray and started tapping the smart table to life. “I wouldn’t buy that for a second.”

Neither would he. No way. Steve’s brain was already racing, coming up with a multitude of scenarios which might have resulted in Danny leaving the Camaro and most of them not particularly happy ones. He shook his head. There was a reasonable explanation, he was sure. Had to be. Any second, Danny would storm into the offices, pissing and moaning about his carless disaster of a weekend. 

_“Steve.”_

“What?” He realized he’d been staring at the doors, as if his will alone would bring Danny through them. “What did you say?”

“I asked what time you left on Friday, and if Danny was still here.”

“Six. And, yeah, he was.” He’d had dinner plans with Catherine, but he hadn’t had much of an appetite, for food or her company. “His office was just like that, and I didn’t even…” 

Steve ran a hand through his hair, an odd déjà vu feeling coming over him, though he was fairly sure there was no way another frenemy of Danny’s had crawled out of the woodwork and strung him on a wild goose chase. The odds were astronomically against that, and he had no logical reason to jump to the idea that Danny was off the grid. He watched mutely as Chin called up multiple security cam feeds from around the building, though there was really only one route Danny would take. Better to be thorough than not, but Steve’s eyes honed in on the most obvious screen as Chin flicked them to the monitors on the wall.

It didn’t take long to spot Danny leaving their offices at twenty past six. The unhappy moue and weariness of his expression made Steve cringe inwardly, evidence of their argument still very much apparent. He ignored the way Kono shot him a look that told him he hadn’t schooled his reaction as well as he should have. They all watched silently as Danny reached the car, parked in the perfect spot for a good camera shot. Danny got in and made to start the engine. Instead of rolling the car into reverse, though, he sat there for a second, then tried to turn the engine over again. Then again. And then he lowered his head to the steering wheel and rested it there for a second. It didn’t take a master lip reader to catch the invectives Danny tossed at the car. Steve caught several fucks, a shit and a McGarrett. Of course Danny would blame him for the car’s malfunction. It almost made him want to laugh. 

“So, car trouble,” Kono said.

Danny was pacing angrily, shoulders stiff, and was on the phone by this point. They all watched as a cab pulled up, Danny got in and it took off. 

“That doesn’t explain why he’s not here now,” Chin said, reasonable and calm, but with an air of tension. “But maybe it’s realistic, given the circumstances.”

Steve started shaking his head before Chin was finished speaking. It wasn’t the car that was making him uneasy. It was the car plus the unanswered messages. As angry or hurt as Danny had been, he would have picked up and he would have had Steve hauling his ass all over the island to get his car fixed. Kono was right. Danny didn’t stay mad forever, he just didn’t, and Steve wanted to believe that was especially true when it came to him. 

“No. He would have called m…one of us, gotten the car fixed. He wouldn’t have just let it sit all weekend. It’s a police vehicle, it needed service and he’d arrange for a replacement in the meantime,” Steve said, certain that was precisely what Danny would have done. The smell of coffee and doughnuts now made him slightly queasy. “He didn’t answer any of my calls this weekend. Did either of you have contact with him?”

“No.”

“No.” 

“Chin, call him. He might answer for you. Kono, track Danny’s phone, just in case.” 

Steve clenched his jaw against the looks they both shot him, like he was overreacting. Maybe he was. He hoped he was. 

Chin kept his eyes pinned warily on Steve even as he lifted his phone to his ear, then started frowning when Danny apparently didn’t answer. He shot Kono a look after a solid thirty seconds of pressing the phone with an increasingly white-knuckled grip, started shaking his head.

“He’s not picking up,” Chin said.

“Looks like his phone’s at his apartment, though,” Kono said. “He’s probably okay.”

“Yeah, probably.” Steve nodded, now torn between irritation and worry. There had to be a reason outside of their verbal altercation that Danny was being unresponsive to everything. He hoped his partner had simply overslept and was now in the shower, unable to hear the phone. “We’ll give him an hour and if he’s not here by then, I’m going over there and hauling his irresponsible ass in. He’ll need a ride, anyway. Save him the cab fare and us from having to hear him gripe about how much money that cost him.”

Steve grabbed his coffee and Danny’s, headed for his office where he pretended to do paperwork but really spent his time hoping they didn’t get a call out as he studied the closed blinds of Danny’s office. The longer he sat and stared across the bullpen, the more he thought was unlikely that Danny had spent the weekend avoiding him due to hurt feelings. That just wasn’t Danny’s style, even if he were the type to hold a grudge. He’d want to hash it out, get over it or make sure Steve knew how wrong he was. And he had been so very wrong. Steve felt stupid, and worse, for not coming to this conclusion sooner. The pit in his stomach kept growing the longer he sat.

An hour, as it turned out, was too long to sit and wait. Though he had no logical basis to think it, it felt like he’d already waited two full days. Danny would have been in long ago if he were coming, and the what-ifs rattling around in his brain were making him crazy. It had only been twenty minutes, but he stood abruptly and headed for the door. 

“I’m coming with,” Kono said the second Steve exited his office. She already had her bag of gear. 

Any argument to the contrary would fail, that was clearly written on Kono’s face. Steve nodded, caught Chin’s eye and stalked out. Kono met up with him at the truck, jumping in with nervous grace as he started it.

“You think something’s wrong with Danny,” Kono said after a few minutes of tense silence.

It wasn’t a question, and he wasn’t surprised by that. They all knew each other very well by now. He hadn’t been hiding his concern. At all. Steve shot her a quick glance, but she wasn’t looking at him. Her gaze was averted and she stared out the window, as if she wanted to know but didn’t want to face it. Still, he wouldn’t do her the disservice of lying and wouldn’t have even if she didn’t already know.

“My gut is telling me there is,” Steve said. “There’s no way he’d no call, no show.”

“Yeah.” Kono shifted in her seat. “I know.”

One of the worst worst-case-scenarios running through his head cropped back up, the image of him walking into Danny’s apartment to find him long dead, decomposing and unrecognizable as anything but bloated flesh. Steve choked back the bile of that thought as it coupled with experiences of discovering bodies in such a state. It was unpleasant with strangers. He was more well-versed in losing people he cared deeply about than anyone should be, but he didn’t know if he’d be able to handle seeing Danny like that. 

Not like that.

They said nothing for the remainder of the drive. There wasn’t really anything either of them could say that would ease the worry and dread. Only one thing would, but Steve was starting to think they would never get that either. The silence continued as he pulled the truck in front of Danny’s place.

“Okay, this is how it’s going down,” Steve said after a few seconds of trying and failing to will Danny out of his apartment with his arms waving about, punctuating his mood. “We’ll go up to the door. We’ll call him one more time, see if the phone is inside or on the grounds nearby. Then, if it comes to it, I go in alone.”

Steve had her until that point, then she scowled at him. 

“Steve, he’s my friend, too.”

“And if this is worst case, the last thing I want is for you to see it, see him.” Steve gave her the look that always worked on Danny – heartfelt with a little brokenness on the side. “Please trust me. You will not want to see it.”

The idea of Danny, careful but tough cop and devoted father, dying in some household accident was almost unthinkable. As was already established, Danny dying, period, was not high on Steve’s list and he’d be a lying liar if he said any means was better or worse than the next. Dead was dead.

“All right,” Kono said. “I trust you.”

Suddenly she seemed too young for the job, which was ridiculous because she was a natural born cop. Her eyes were wide and shimmering, though underneath that was still her inherent toughness. Kono pulled out her phone and called Danny, exchanged a frown with Steve as they heard the ringtone. Right now, Danny was using _Surfer Girl_ by The Beach Boys for her, and something about that was so sweet it felt almost like a blow. 

“I’m going in,” Steve said. 

He fumbled with his key ring a bit, searched for the one to Danny’s place. There was only so long he could delay the inevitable and, with the pit firmly in his stomach, he let himself in. The first thing he noticed, thank goodness, was the lack of the telltale smell of putrefaction. Steve knew that wasn’t a guarantee or proof of life, so he kept himself steeled as he took a few steps into the living space.

“Danny? You here, buddy?” 

No cantankerous or pained reply came, and Steve hadn’t expected one but it was still disappointing. He scanned the living area, poked his head into the kitchen and found a bowl of over-ripe bananas and Danny’s phone there. He ignored the phone for the moment and moved to the interior of the place, to the bathroom and bedrooms. His senses were on high alert as he cleared Gracie’s room, then Danny’s. Danny’s was a mess, bed unmade and the clothes he’d worn on Friday in a heap at the end of it, shoes kicked halfway under the bed. On the small bedside table were his gun and badge. 

He didn’t have time today to critique Danny’s horrendous housekeeping habits, though part of him still half hoped Danny would burst out and yell at him for invasion of privacy. He frowned down at the gun and badge, a knot of tension forming at the base of his spine. He exited the room and, once in the hall, eyed the bathroom door open only a crack. Those same horrible things he’d been imagining all morning replayed as he took a deep breath and gave the door a good push. It met no resistance, no unconscious (or worse) body blocking entry. His shoulders sagged, relieved.

The reassurance that he had not lost his partner this day lasted all of five seconds, when it was replaced with the realization that Danny was still gone. Just as there was no way Danny wouldn’t show up to work, he wouldn’t have left home without his phone any more than he’d have left his gun and shield. No cop would, let alone one on a task force which saw a higher-than-average case rate. He headed back to the front door and Kono waiting outside dutifully, picking up Danny’s phone on his way.

“He’s not here,” Steve said. 

“Oh, thank god.” Kono leaned against the doorframe. “That’s good.”

“Maybe.” 

The last thing he wanted to do was kill Kono’s relief, but he also knew it wouldn’t take her long to figure out on her own. Steve ran his thumb across Danny’s phone’s screen, input the password Danny didn’t know he knew and saw the number of missed calls. Unless Danny’s popularity had increased he thought they were mostly from him, and he’d called off and on all weekend. Damn. He didn’t check the voicemails, not yet. 

“I’m not sure he’s been here all weekend.” Steve held the phone up. “He’s got missed calls back to Friday. That sound like good news to you?”

“Shit,” Kono said.

H50H50H50

Danny was just … gone.

Almost six hours into the official investigation of Danny’s disappearance, they had precisely zero viable leads. Nothing panned out for them. One of the problems was that other than confirming Danny had gone directly home after climbing into that cab on Friday evening – he’d used his debit card and it had run at seven oh five – they had no idea where he might have gone after that. He hadn’t mentioned his plans for the days off with Chin, Kono and certainly not Steve. There’d been no outgoing calls on his phone, none of his messages had been checked. Two of those calls were from Grace, and it was impossible Danny wouldn’t have called his little girl back. That had been all the proof Steve had needed to create a rough timeline. Danny had left their offices on Friday night. Grace’s first call had been at eight-thirty on Saturday morning.

Steve wasn’t used to feeling so powerless. The only comfort he took was that neither the morgue nor any of the hospitals in Honolulu had record of his partner crossing their thresholds. Somehow, even that comfort seemed too little. He let out a long breath, and pressed his fingertips into his closed eyes.

He had his hands still pressed against his face when he sensed a presence nearby. He didn’t move, halfway hoped whoever it was would go away. That was the precisely wrong attitude to have, of course. What he needed was to get off his ass and get back to it. 

After the phone call he’d just had to make, he thought maybe he deserved a minute or two to decompress. Rachel had taken it as well as could be expected, had even made him believe she did still care beneath all the acrimony, and assured him she’d handle Grace. He wanted to ask her why alarm bells hadn’t gone off when Danny didn’t call Grace back, not once, but he restrained himself. What was done, was done, just as his own lack of action damned him. In the end, he’d just wanted it to come from him rather than the five o’clock news, and he’d wanted to do it before Grace was done with school. He knew avoiding direct interaction with the little girl made him a huge coward, just like hiding behind his hands did. A soft knock on his doorframe joined the person standing in it. He sighed.

“What?” Steve said. He cleared his throat when his voice sounded hoarse. “What’ve you got?”

“Kamekona, on the phone,” Chin said

“One of his contacts come through for us?” Steve was instantly at attention, on his feet with his hand stretched for the phone. “What line?”

“No, sorry. He hasn’t heard anything from his extensive network, but this isn’t about that. He, ah …” Chin looked a little sheepish. “He figured with what was going on, we hadn’t had time for grinds. He wants to know your preference today.”

Jesus. That was actually sweet, in a totally misguided, Kamekona sort of way. Steve couldn’t possibly choke down a plate of shrimp right now if he tried, though he knew eventually he was going to need the fuel. He waved a hand at Chin, who simply nodded and ducked out of the office. He followed after a minute, needing to get his brain back in the game. He knew better than anyone that there were ways of making someone vanish without a trace, which might mean he was the only one who was going to be able to think like whoever had done this. If someone had. They still didn’t know anything, really. The timing of his last conversation with Danny and Danny vanishing was coincidental, horrible, and it was tearing away at him. For many, layered reasons.

“No, thank you. I appreciate your time. Please call me if anything changes,” Kono was saying into her cell as she strode into HQ. She looked at Steve somberly, shook her head as she hung up. “That was the last clinic. No sign of him.”

They’d expanded their hospital and urgent care clinic check to facilities outside of Honolulu. O’ahu wasn’t a huge land mass, and it stood to reason Danny could have gotten or been taken outside city limits. It still stood to reason that he might be out there right now, hurt or worse. No, O’ahu wasn’t a huge island, yet trying to find one man amid all the mountains and ridges wouldn’t be an easy feat, not without knowing where to start. Danny wouldn’t voluntarily go into the wilds on his own, though, that much anyone who knew him understood.

“Good. That’s great,” Steve said. “What have we got from Fong, or anyone from CSU?”

“Exactly nothing. A majority of the prints so far have come up as belonging to Danny, Grace and you. Kono and I are in the mix, but none foreign. With no sign of a struggle, there’s no real evidence to collect.” Chin scowled at the computer for a moment, like it was the machine’s fault GPS on car or phone were worth nothing here. “Even if we can’t rule out foul play at this point, I would bet my next paycheck that if it is, then whoever’s responsible is too damn good to leave trace, which means there probably would have been no prints to collect at his apartment. It’s like Danny has dropped off the face of the planet.”

The urge to slap the table in frustration was strong, but Steve knew outbursts would accomplish nothing. Unfortunately, it was starting to look like nothing would accomplish anything. 

“Okay, I know it’s a long shot, but we’ve got to access any CCTV footage from cameras in a mile radius of Danny’s apartment.” Steve narrowed his eyes. Nothing had showed in the initial search, and he knew it would be like looking for a needle in an even bigger haystack at this point, but if they could just get a direction Danny had gone. Something, anything they could follow. “I’m sure HPD can help us with that again. The more eyes, the better.”

“On it,” Kono said, stalking to her office, already lifting her phone to her ear. 

“Chin, any luck sifting through Danny’s Newark caseload?”

“You mean in the ten minutes you were on the phone with Danny’s ex?” Chin said dryly. “Actually, since we had to do this once already, the information was already compiled. So far, anyone that seems capable of something this slick is either dead or still in prison. Before you ask, that includes Rick Peterson.”

He chewed on the inside of his lip. He was glad he wasn’t the only one who’d had Peterson on the brain, though he had to admit that that assholes style was much more overt. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that Peterson had spent the last months plotting a new and better way to exact what had to be even bigger revenge now. They’d dealt with an inmate orchestrating complicated plots from within a cellblock, which … Kaleo was also an option. 

“Steve, if we’re going to assume there is malicious intent, have you considered that maybe it’s not one of Danny’s enemies that could be responsible for it?” Chin moved a step closer. “Danny being targeted doesn’t mean he’s who it’s about. If it’s about anything.”

“Make your point, Chin,” Steve said, though he was already there.

“I know what’s in my past. I’ve got a fairly good picture of what’s in Kono’s, and it could…” Chin darted a look toward Kono’s office. “It could be Yakuza related, because something’s going on there I can’t put my finger on, but I don’t think so. Kono and I, we both consider Danny family, absolutely. But who’s the one of the three of us that spends the most time with him outside of work? And who has a prior work history that requires high levels of clearance which likely involved those with skill sets perfect to pull something like this off?”

Steve was an idiot. Worry for Danny had made him stupid. Of all the countless things rattling around in his head since ten o’clock this morning, someone out of his own past having a hand in whatever happened to Danny hadn’t occurred to him. 

“And who has a known international criminal with messy, personal ties attached to him?” Chin said, finishing his calm speech with a deadly twist.

_Hanging from his arms, the pressure immense on his shoulder joints. Expertly placed jabs to already tender flesh, the acrid smell of an electric prod and the sheer, unthinkable agony of it burning into him. Jenna, filthy and terrified and repentant._

_Jenna, dead._

“Wo Fat. You think Wo Fat could have Danny?” Steve shook his head, even as his heart practically beat in triple time in his chest. “No. Subtlety isn’t his style, and besides, he’s all about money these days. If he took a break from that to come at me for some reason, he’d come right for me, or someone…”

Someone exactly like Danny was to him. Steve closed his eyes and shook his head. These were feelings he hadn’t begun unpacking, and now he had to think about the way Chin’s first guess who was close enough to him to inflict maximum pain was Danny. Not Catherine. Not Doris. Not Mary. Danny. He couldn’t let himself think about how transparent he’d been. He couldn’t think that it might be his fault Danny was gone, one way or another. 

“No, I really don’t think it’s Wo Fat, Chin,” Steve said.

Chin put his hands up. “Okay, it’s just that Victor Hesse didn’t hesitate to use me against you, under the guise of ransom, and we’d only been working together for a couple of months. I’d imagine even back then, if it had been Danny…” He shrugged. “Wo Fat or someone else, I don’t think this particular motive can be ruled out yet only because it’s unpleasant to consider.”

Steve did know people from his past who could make someone disappear completely. He knew how to do it himself. He winced at that thought. 

“Yeah. Okay, you’re not wrong, but Chin – the people I know capable of this are either on the right side of the law, dead or locked up. And I can’t exactly name names.” Steve ran a hand through his hair. “I can have Cath check up on some of them, though, the ones she’s got clearance for. She can do it more efficiently, while we concentrate on the CCTV footage.”

He almost missed it as he turned to head into his office, but out of the corner of his eye, Steve caught a fleeting look on Chin’s face. He paused and looked at the other man directly. The expression had dissipated, had probably either been nothing or the worry teeming below all of their surfaces peeking through, but it sparked something in him. 

“What was that look?” Steve narrowed his eyes when Chin said nothing. “Now’s not the time to hold back, Chin.”

“Does Catherine know?” Chin asked quietly, his eyes darting toward Kono’s office again. 

“That Danny’s missing? My mind’s been racing.” It had been a loop of _Danny’s gone, Danny’s gone, Danny’s gone._ “I hadn’t even thought to tell her yet.”

“No, that Danny means so much to you that someone might use him as leverage.”

Steve tried not to react. This wasn’t the place for the Danny-sized compartment to bust open and spill out everywhere, and Chin wasn’t the person who he needed to help him sort through it all.

“Chin, you just said yourself that any one of you would hit me hard, and that’s on me. Cath knows how much I lo…” Steve said, the word catching in his throat, “…care for Danny.”

Damn it. That expression was back on Chin’s face, equal parts wistfulness, sadness and maybe pity. Steve wasn’t easily unsettled, contrary to how he’d been about Danny’s perceived hurt silent treatment and now his disappearance, but he didn’t know if he’d last long under that gaze.

“Let me amend the question. Does she know you think it’s possible someone might use Danny as leverage against you before they’d use her?” Chin asked. 

“That’s not … Chin, that’s not a fair assumption to make.”

“Isn’t it? Look, I know this is really none of my business. I also know I’m not a _kahuna hana aloha_. I’m not some old, wise master of anything, really. I have no credentials, but I know chemistry when I see it, Steve. You’ve got a great thing going with Catherine and I’m not trying to diminish that. I know you care for her deeply, but I also know I see something in Danny that brings out the worst in you and somehow turns it into the best. I see two people clicking as equals.”

“Chin…”

“No, _brah_. If you could see yourself, you’d know exactly why I’m saying this and why I’m saying it now. Just take it from me, okay? Life is too short to waste one single second of it. If you think, no, if you know there’s a chance your happiness lies on a different path to the one you’re on, you should take that detour while you can.”

Chin might as well have ripped both of their hearts out of their chests and stomped on them. Steve swallowed and looked away from the other man. He jumped a little when Chin put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently and damn it all to hell, anyway, when had he lost the ability to mask his feelings? It would be pointless to deny there was truth there, even if it was truth he wasn’t sure how to handle. Or, hadn’t been sure. 

“That’s just it, Chin,” Steve found himself saying, “what if –”

Kono flew out of her office, interrupting the thought Steve hadn’t truly wanted to voice anyway. She was pale, her eyes wide.

“When I was on the phone with Duke requesting the expanded CCTV footage, a call came in. He said there was a new report of a DB in a recreation area on Sand Island,” Kono said, and she looked about one point five seconds away from puking. “HPD has detectives on it, but he thought we’d want to check it out ourselves. Boss … boss, the description is male, Caucasian, light hair. Max is already en route.”

Steve stared at Chin, helpless and sick. Kono’s message mirrored what he’d been about to say, and from the pinched look on Chin’s face his own words hadn’t been necessary. The what if was presenting itself in full color. He strode out of the offices then, headed for his truck and Sand Island with nothing but that same helpless and sick feeling in his gut steering him. The drive took forever, and yet suddenly he was in the recreation area and pulling up next to a bunch of squad cars, their lights flashing. He took in the scene. The yellow police tape flickered in the breeze, a young couple stood huddled and looked vaguely ill next to a car with someone taking their statement, the ME van. The body, mostly obscured. Someone knocked on his window. He jerked, saw Chin and Kono both peering up at him worriedly. He got out. 

“Okay,” Steve said, though he had half a mind to again tell Kono to hang back. The problem with that was he’d want to stay with her, safe from seeing Danny lifeless. “Let’s get this over with.”

They made it just past the police tape when Max looked up from his crouch next to the fair-haired victim. He stood immediately and noticeably shoved something into his pocket. He scurried toward them, looking upset. Or excited. On a good day, Steve could never quite tell with Max and today was about as far from a good day as one could get.

“I was just going to contact you. The victim is most definitely not Detective Williams,” Max said quickly, avoiding his usual rambling style to get right to the point. “I just arrived myself, or I would have been able to prevent you some time and, judging by your pallor, a good deal of distress.”

“It’s not Danny?” Kono said stupidly. “Really?”

“No, I can assure you…”

Steve didn’t stick around to hear what else Max had to say. As far as he was concerned, this case was in capable hands and he, he had to take a moment. He put a hand on the front bumper of the Silverado as he hunched over and breathed. It felt like he’d just dodged a bullet. No, like he’d taken a bullet to his body armor; he was still alive, but had that numb sensation which would ultimately and very horribly turn to intense pain. And he’d just wasted time racing to a scene on the possibility of it being Danny. He heard Kono and Chin return to his side.

“We’ve got to get back to it,” he said as he righted himself and stiffly moved to the door. “Danny’s still out there.”

“You want me to drive?” Chin murmured at him, hand on his back. “You look shaky.”

“No, it’s … I’m fine.” If fine was about ready to fly apart with frustration and worry and all of the things Chin had poked at, then Steve was fine. Great, even. “We need to get on the CCTV footage and I still have to call Cath.”

He couldn’t call her while driving, primarily because he wasn’t quite ready to hear her voice. His head was filled with paths and detour signs and she’d only make him more confused. The trip back to HQ was as long and sudden as the drive to Sand Island had been. Steve tried to ignore the figurative map in his mind and concentrate on who in his past would be the likeliest candidates to not only pick up on his apparently not well hidden biases toward Danny but also be able to take his partner down. Danny didn’t make an imposing figure, but Steve knew he had power and skill. Someone would have to be close to his own level of good to pull it off.

He was still worrying it over in his head when he pulled into his parking spot. He’d just gotten out of the truck when Chin and Kono pulled up in her Cruze. They walked together up the steps and into their offices, none of them speaking but all of them fairly thrumming with tension. Steve ignored the glances Chin kept darting him. When they crossed the threshold into their suite, the first thing that hit Steve was a wave of garlic and butter. He scowled, saw the bags of food piled on the tech table. They hadn’t locked the damned doors, or Kamekona had picked his way in. He didn’t even know which. Jesus. He scowled harder when he saw a man in a cheap suit standing there, take-out plate lunch in his hand and munching away as if he owned the place. His hackles raised. 

“Cage,” he said. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Detective Cage wasn’t alone. He had two uniformed officers with him, and that did nothing at all to ease Steve’s alarm. Neither did the grim, yet also smug look on the guy’s face. 

“I heard about Williams,” Cage said. He put the box of half eaten shrimp down and picked up a napkin. He wiped his fingers off carefully. “The whole department has.”

“And?” Chin asked. 

“And after the news broke, an individual employed by the Honolulu Police Department also brought to IA’s attention that Commander McGarrett was very recently overheard telling Williams that he could and I quote _disappear him_. It’s not something we can ignore under these circumstances.”

For a blink, maybe two, there was absolute silence and Steve heard his own voice say the words. He hadn’t meant them. 

_“You know, I could disappear you and leave no evidence. My education, experience and skill combined would make it so easy, Danny. One day you exist, the next you don’t.”_

“What?” Kono finally said. “Steve?”

Steve clenched his jaw, couldn’t look at her or Chin. He could feel Cage’s eyes on him, assessing.

“That makes you a person of interest in his disappearance,” Cage said. “You can understand that.”

“Five-0 isn’t subject to HPD’s internal affairs department,” Steve said, only realized how defensive it was when Kono let out a little gasp. 

“No, it isn’t. Feel free to call Governor Denning. The Chief has already had a conversation with him, and he agreed in this instance that a neutral party needs to be involved just to make sure it’s all above board. None of us want bad press on this.”

It wasn’t like Denning to not give him a head’s up. Steve had no problem cooperating, but ever since it had taken Five-0 - _Danny_ \- doing IA’s job when all they’d been interested in was posthumously crucifying Meka Hanamoa rather than finding out the truth, he understood the animosity between all other departments and internal affairs. There wasn’t anything neutral about the way Cage operated.

“We’re going to need you to come with us,” Cage said. “We have some questions.”

“No,” Chin said. He put himself between the officers who’d stepped forward, ready to lead Steve away. “Any conversation you have with Steve, you can do in our facilities.”

“Sure.” Cage shrugged. “I trust you won’t fight us on this, Commander?”

“Of course not,” Steve said, his throat dry. “I have nothing to hide. Step into my office so I can explain the misunderstanding.”

“Oh, no. Sorry. Obviously, we need to have this on record. I believe you have an interrogation room we can use,” Cage said, and smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do not throw rotten tomatoes. Might do an epilogue, not sure. Also, LJ is broken, so this is going here only for now.

“I suppose by the book means you can’t tell me anything,” Steve said. “They dumped me in here almost two hours ago.”

“No, I can’t. Only after you’re cleared,” Chin said. “And you will be cleared, Steve.”

Of course he would be. Steve would rather be dead himself than intentionally harm one single, ridiculous hair on Danny’s head. He couldn’t understand how there was someone left on the island, in the whole state, who genuinely didn’t know how he and Danny went at each other but didn’t mean it. He’d been thinking about it even more since being tossed in here, though, and he had to admit the whole thing was a clusterfuck of bad timing. He wished he could just speak with whomever it was who’d overheard that stupid conversation, the one he should have mentioned to Chin and Kono the minute they realized Danny was gone. He’d honestly not thought it was relevant. It hadn’t been, until it was, and the way Chin was looking at him calmly, but with an underlying tension made that very obvious.

“Chin,” he said, “it was just a bad moment.”

“I know that, Steve, and I know how both of you were on Friday. Don’t you think we’ve all reached that point with each other from time to time? There have been days I’ve wanted shake Kono till she rattles.” Chin pushed away from the wall and moved to stand in front of him. “Is it your ill-timed and coincidental comment that’s got you more upset, or is it the other thing we talked about?”

Slouching forward again, Steve scrubbed his face and then looked up, beyond Chin to the camera. He shook his head, about to answer when the door clicked loudly and startled him instead. Cage strolled in, as if he hadn’t let Steve sit down here for an unnecessarily long time. He had no idea what the tactics were about, but he couldn’t let himself give in to his irritation. The faster he could clear this up, the faster he could help find Danny. He would conduct a building by building search on all of O’ahu if he had to.

“Sorry for the delay,” Cage said. “I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable in here.”

“The room is meant to be uncomfortable, Cage. The least you could have done was let me wait out where I could do something,” Steve said. “Can we please just do this?”

“McGarrett, look, being angry isn’t going to help.” Cage looked at him closely. “I know leaving you in here for a couple of hours won’t help my credibility, but I’ve got no beef with you. I had things to attend to.”

Chin, standing behind Cage, mouthed _press conference_ to Steve. It only reminded him this was all very real. And that he should have been at there representing Five-0; it was his man who was missing. He hoped like hell they hadn’t named him as a person of interest. Chin wouldn’t have let them and Steve was sure he’d done a fine job in his stead, but he felt twisted up about it anyway.

“We haven’t gone public and listed you as a suspect. To be honest, we’re not sure you’ve got any involvement, but this case has a non-existent pool of leads. So far, you’re it.” Cage must be able to read minds. “So, we have to get this logged. You’re an investigator, of sorts. You must see how it looks.”

Yeah. He did. It had preyed on his mind all weekend, that look on Danny’s face and the hurt retreat into unusual silence as a result of what he’d said. If Danny had reacted that way, someone who didn’t know them would think the worst when the worst then happened. Steve wasn’t sure he was going to be able to explain this all away, though, because even in the context of him-and-Danny, a threat was a threat and Danny was gone.

“Yeah,” Steve said. “I know, but he’s my _partner_.”

“Hmm.” Cage opened a file and flicked through it for a moment. “Wouldn’t that be the same partner who you told you wished you’d never selected for the task force in the first place?”

Steve sighed. Jesus, Cage made it sound like he and Danny were kids squabbling in the schoolyard. Which, okay. Yeah, sometimes that was an accurate description and then there was Friday. He glanced at Chin, who shook his head slightly, then shot an icy glare Cage’s way.

“Yes, that would be him. Look, whatever your whistleblower told you was taken out of context.” Steve hated that he sounded to his own ears like he was trying to convince himself of that rather than Cage. “Someone new, maybe, or someone who doesn’t know how we operate. Danny and I, we’re good. He gets under my skin sometimes, that’s all.” 

Steve twitched a little at that understatement. He was beyond rationalizing away the deeper whys of Danny’s ability to get to him and his own inability to find it anything other than endearing ninety-nine percent of the time. Danny practically lived under Steve’s skin, and without him there, Steve felt naked, vulnerable in a way that wasn’t becoming of a SEAL.

“So under your skin you’d employ your extensive training against him?” Cage didn’t sound particularly antagonistic. 

“No. You can’t believe that I’d honestly do it, let alone be stupid enough to announce it in public just before I did. Could I make someone disappear? Yes,” Steve said. He shrugged. Dishonesty would be of no service here. “I could. But I did not do anything to Danny.”

“I’ll need you to go over the conversation you had with Detective Williams as you remember it,” Cage said. “Then we’ll go from there.”

Steve didn’t want to tell the story, but he didn’t have a choice.

_Somewhere along the diatribe, Danny’s words had taken on a senseless cast in his head. If he had to describe it, it was like the off screen adult voices in all of the Peanuts holiday specials. Wah-wah-wah-waaaah-wahwahwah._

_It didn’t happen often. Usually Steve practically hung on every stupid thing Danny said, he could admit the level of his fondness spiked with every disproportionately passionate word, but under rare circumstances it was just too much. Right here and now, it was probably due to the growing tension he felt about Doris gnawing at him day and night lately, interrupting his already reduced sleeping schedule. It was probably that he hadn’t had enough to eat and had a headache because of it. It was probably that Danny was just in one obnoxious, rare form today and Steve had reached maximum levels of tolerance. He’d never hit that particular apex before, so deep down he realized this was the accumulation of too many things, but his higher brain function seemed reluctant to kick in as he boiled over._

_“Stop. Danny, would you please do me the favor of shutting the hell up for once?” Steve snapped, though he hadn’t heard an actual word for several minutes._

_Danny blinked at him a few times, then snapped back, “Whoa, Commander Grouchy. I don’t know what bug crawled up your ass, but kindly let me know when it finds its way back out.”_

_“Did you ever consider that you’re the bug, Daniel?” Steve turned on Danny, got in his tiny little space and ignored the zing of the something that charged between them. It was always there, he always felt it but for some reason it made him so angry today, fueled his mouth. “A small, annoying toy bug. I think sometimes you’ve got a pull cord and the words you spout are all pre-recorded gibberish.”_

_“Seriously, what’s the matter with you?” Danny looked more worried than angry all of a sudden. “You feeling all right? Is it your mom? Cath? What?”_

_He really couldn’t take Danny’s concern, even while inside he was screaming that he was the one who needed to shut up, not Danny. That Danny had hit two hot buttons in one breath made him so angry, for reasons he couldn’t justify. Hell, just like he couldn’t say why he was in such a pissy mood._

_“I’d be better if just this one time you did what I asked and stopped talking.”_

_“Stop informing you of all the ways your tactics are questionable on the best of days?” The anger was back. “Never. It’s bad enough I’ve started to assimilate to your way of doing things…”_

_Steve clamped a hand on Danny’s shoulder, though part of him wanted to put it across his mouth. Another part of him wanted to do something else with that mouth. Punch, maybe. Or… Shit. He really didn’t know why Danny ragging on him was setting him off, and he really thought he wanted to know, except for the moment all he could think about was how it wasn’t cute or funny today. He squeezed that shoulder, hard, his hand very large and very capable of doing damage._

_“You couldn’t possibly do things my way. You don’t have it in you.”_

_Steve had often felt that way over the last few years with Danny, and usually it wasn’t a bad thing. He knew his limitations and he’d gone quickly from enduring his eccentricities to just plain needing Danny._

_Just not today._

_“Sometimes I have no idea why I thought you’d be the best partner for me, Danny, or why I still put up with you.”_

_The irritation on Danny’s face flickered for just a moment into something more like raw hurt. Steve saw it and it bothered him, but he couldn’t pull the words back. He almost, almost meant them. There were days when his partner was simply too much for a normal human being to take. That was his reasonable explanation. It was like a release valve had let go, all of his pent up frustration for everything – not just Danny in this moment – spewed out. The shit coming out of his mouth was loaded with Doris and Cath lying to him, and, he knew deep down, the frustrated, complex, unnamable feelings Danny evoked in him just by existing. None of it was Danny’s fault._

_And then he went that one step further._

_“Sometimes I think I’d be better off if you just disappeared. Actually, you know, I could disappear you and leave no evidence,” Steve said. “My education, experience and skill combined would make it so easy.”_

_“Good luck with that, asshole. Do me a favor and don’t talk to me until you’re human again,” Danny said with a bitter laugh. He pulled from Steve’s grasp and walked to the car with clenched fists and without another word._

The interrogation room fell silent after the last of his words left his mouth. Steve felt vaguely ill. Fuck, it sounded worse out loud than he’d thought it would, and he’d thought it would be pretty bad. He pinched the bridge of his nose and stubbornly refused to look at either Cage or Chin. He came out of that looking like an adolescent and he knew it. He also knew there had been no outward sign of the good humor he and Danny usually had even at their bickeriest, and he hadn’t been able to infuse his recollection with it. The most awful thing about it was now he understood a bit better why he’d lost it with Danny, an epiphany that might have come too late. In that fit of unchecked and unfocused anger, he’d said the exact opposite of what was truth. 

“Well,” Cage said after a few seconds.

Steve finally looked up and could see the unspoken _oh, you jackass_ on Chin’s face; he couldn’t quite tell at whom it was directed, him or Cage. He took the coward’s way out and locked his eyes on a blank spot on the wall rather than look Chin in the eye.

“I’d say that aligns with the report we received.” 

Cage’s tone was difficult to interpret, and it was a fair bet it was partly due to the shit floating around in Steve’s own head. He cleared his throat.

“I’m not in a position to lie about it, considering you already have an eyewitness account, and I wouldn’t anyway. I said those things. I have to live with the misunderstanding they caused. I have to live with _that_ potentially being the last conversation I had with my partner,” Steve said with a grimace. God, his heart was doing awful things and it was only that he knew he was too young and too fit to have a heart attack that he didn’t demand a medic. “And I know saying now that I didn’t mean them won’t go very far, but I really didn’t.”

“I don’t have to tell you that intent doesn’t matter that much in the face of Williams’ sudden disappearance.” Cage paced. “The fact is, you all but said you wanted him gone, and now he is. You have the means and the skill to make it happen. If you were any run-of-the-mill perp, we’d have grounds to hold you for twenty-four hours at the bare minimum.”

No. He could not be detained for that long. He shot a desperate look to Chin, who appeared alarmed and again Steve couldn’t tell if it was because of him or Cage. He shook his head, not panicking but also not the epitome of calm. He needed to be out there. For as little ground as they’d gained before this unnecessary interview, he still needed to be out there pounding on doors.

“Cage,” Chin said. “Be reasonable.”

“I am reasonable,” Cage said. “If we let the only suspect we have in Detective Williams’ case go free because of who he is, the media will be all over it. No matter how much you say you didn’t mean the threats, McGarrett, they are what they are. I’m sorry. Without any compelling information to refute the statements you admit to making, my hands are tied.”

Steve stood, amused at the way Cage flinched. He didn’t make an aggressive move toward Cage, much as he wanted to throttle the guy. Instead, he turned and walked to the back of the room, rested his forehead against the cool cement wall. This was a completely unacceptable outcome. What he’d said was nothing like admission of guilt, but it was being treated that way. He was more than a little angry at the governor not going to bat for him here; he’d thought they’d made great strides these last few months. Ironically, it was probably the governor’s missteps in trying to protect his own friend that had made him cautious here. Still, he’d have appreciated some warning at the very least.

“You’re going to hold him on this? Cage, this is paper thin and you know it. You can’t tell me partners in your past never threatened to cause you bodily harm.”

Cage barked out a laugh and said, “Lieutenant, everyone I know has. The point is, no matter how many people have wanted my head on a platter, I’m standing here. Williams isn’t. I really am sorry.”

The click of the door release echoed through the room. It was incomprehensible that this was happening. Steve couldn’t let himself be grounded based on words alone. He spun around, wildly looking at Chin first and then halting Cage when he was halfway out of the door.

“Wait, wait, wait. Words. If issuing threats in a bad moment is enough to hold me,” Steve said hurriedly, “then by that logic, issuing apologies should be enough to let me rejoin the investigation. Listen to Danny’s voicemails from this weekend. It’s all there. Would a guilty man call the person he presumably did harm to multiple times over the course of the next few days?”

At the door, Cage twisted to face him. He looked thoughtful for a moment, but shook his head. 

“A guilty man who knows how to disappear someone would also know to pull off fake contrition, McGarrett.”

Oh, that was it.

“Jesus, you’re a _dick_.” Steve took a few steps forward, not surprised when Chin held him back. “You heard those voicemails already, didn’t you, and you’re still going to stick with this bullshit? Fuck you, Cage, just fuck you so hard. My partner is out there somewhere and you’re going to hold me in here? Really? I need to talk to Denning.”

“Hey, take it easy. Let me see what’s…” Chin murmured in his ear, trailing off when his phone chirped an incoming text. He stepped away from Steve, glanced at his phone, frowned and darted for the door before it could shut. “Cage, hold up.”

Belatedly, Steve realized he could have made it to the door before it shut. He made a dash for it anyway, reaching it just as it clicked. Goddamn it. He glared out the narrow window, saw Chin and Cage in a heated discussion, Chin pointing to his phone and waving his arms in a move so reminiscent of Danny that Steve had to close his eyes for a second. He opened them again and watched Chin dial his phone, holding it aloft, obviously on speaker. Whoever was on the other end had information that had Cage looking a little angry, then resigned. Then Chin pocketed his phone and, after a few more words with Cage, strode back toward Steve. The door release clicked.

“Come on,” Chin said simply, holding the door open. “Kamekona called Kono a few minutes ago. Apparently he’s got someone at his truck he has reason to believe is in possession of Danny’s wallet. Even Cage had to admit it’s unlikely you’d screw up that bad when committing kidnapping with a side of presumed homicide. Asshole.”

Steve bared his teeth in an unhappy, snarly smile. He slipped by Chin, all the pent up energy he’d amassed in the interrogation spurring him on as much as the possible lead. He didn’t see Cage in the corridor anymore, which was just as well. He might not have been able to rein in his anger. Both he and Chin headed for the stairs rather than wait for the elevator to come back down.

“Details,” Steve said as he took the stairs two at a time and at a good clip.

“Don’t have many.” Chin was half a flight behind Steve and huffing a bit to stay even that close. “Kono said he spotted the guy digging through the wallet like he was unfamiliar with the contents and, knowing Danny’s MIA, he figured it could be important. He sent his cousin over to ‘casually’ check it out.”

There was nothing casual or subtle about Kamekona or Flipper. Steve almost laughed.

“That was when Flipper saw Danny’s driver’s license.”

“Good enough for me.” Steve burst through the main floor door. “Kono on her way?”

“She’s probably already there, _brah_.”

“I hope she saves a piece for us,” Steve said.

H50H50H50

High blood pressure didn’t run in his family as far as he knew, but Steve was certain his had skyrocketed to dangerous heights during the last hour and a half. Each minute was tick-tick-ticking in the back of his mind even louder now that they had something to work with. While it was infinitely better to be on the right side of an interview, this one had been an exercise in frustration. He wanted to feel better, vindicated, at once more being in charge of Danny’s case; he didn’t feel anything but growing dread. He’d half expected to find Cage lurking in the shadows upon Five-0’s return with their _actual_ suspect, waiting to pounce on him with some trumped up charges. One day, he was going to find out what exactly Cage’s deal was.

Tonight, he simply wanted a straight answer from the bum listing to the right in the bolted-down chair.

“I didn’t steal nothin’.”

“You seriously want us to believe that he just walked up to you and handed you his wallet? Filled with cash and credit cards,” Steve said. “Why would he do that?”

Elmore Flats sighed heavily, and again the rank odor of stale booze that emitted from his mouth reminded Steve that he’d obviously tied several drinks on in the not-too-distant past. 

“I don’t care what you believe,” Flats said, slurring more from lack of teeth than drunkenness, though there lingered some of that as well. “I tole ya on the beach and I’m tellin’ ya _now_ , he walked up to me and said something in … German. Yeah, it was German. Or something. And shoved it right into my hands. It was the darnedest thing, but my mama, she didn’t raise no fools. Free money is good money. If the guy wanted me to have it, I had to take it.”

They’d found Flats at Kamekona’s truck, with Danny’s wallet very much in his hands and Flipper looming over him like a very large statue. Credit cards, driver’s license and several pictures – one of Grace, one of an old Thunderbird and one of the team, which had surprised and touched all of them – had been spread out on the picnic table and arranged like Flats was playing a game of Memory with them. Whatever cash Danny had had was depleted to three dollars and some loose change. Flats, a down-and-outer, had been smart enough to avoid using the cards but looked like he’d been about to change his mind now that his cash windfall was almost gone.

“You’ll have to forgive us. We just want to understand,” Kono said gently. “None of what you’re telling us sounds very plausible, especially considering the person you claim gave you his money of his own free will is a police officer, okay? He’s not going to hand over his personal belongings. Maybe you want to try it again.”

“Little sister, I don’t know how many ways ya want me to tell it.” Flats raised his right arm toward his head, but it jerked to a stop as if they had him restrained and he lowered it back into his lap. “I didn’t do nothing wrong.”

“You had a missing cop’s wallet on you when we found you.” Steve blew out a long breath. If Flats was tired of answering the same questions, he was beyond tired of asking them. “That is the definition of doing something wrong.”

“Well, he sure didn’t look missing when he gave it to me,” Flats said, indignant. “You think I’m a mind-reader? I don’t judge a book by the cover.”

More than anger, a desperate feeling bubbled through Steve. He was actually starting to think the guy believed he was telling them the truth, as least as far as he knew it. His consistency was fairly impressive, given that he’d been caught with the evidence literally in his hands. By now, some deviation should have happened and he or Kono would have been able to use it to their advantage. 

“Okay, he didn’t look missing.” Kono leaned closer, still using the gentle tone of voice. “Can you tell us how he did look?

Flats chewed on his lip, the scraggle of his beard and moustache seeming almost animated on his face. Steve hung back and let Kono take over the lead. Intimidation hadn’t gotten them anywhere. They’d settled into good cop/bad cop easily, banking on gender stereotypes to soften Flats’ distrust. So far, it hadn’t done much good, but he saw Flats dart his eyes to the base of Kono’s throat, then up quickly, the same jerkish movement his hand had made earlier. The man was starting to twitch, likely used to the vastness of the blue sky and beach as his ceiling and floor. Compared to that, the small box of a room had to feel extremely confining. That, if nothing else, should be working to help coax the truth out of the man.

Steve knew it was in there, somewhere, and he knew all they needed was time they didn’t have. He wanted so much to ramp up the bad cop angle again, rattle Flats until he slipped and gave them something useful. He held his tongue. Danny would be so proud. He darted a look at the camera, then back at Flats.

“I don’t know.” Flats stared at Kono for a few blinks. “Say, you got real pretty eyes.”

“Thank you,” Kono said with a smile that barely disguised her revulsion. She widened her eyes a little, looked as sweet as candy. “Come on, if you could tell he didn’t look missing, I’m certain you can tell us what he looked like instead.”

“It’s hard to say exactly,” Flats said. “He looked … different.”

“Different compared to what?” Steve asked. 

“Not like his photo. I dunno. He, his hair was…” Flats nervously ran his hands through his own hair, like he could control the messy, filthy mop into a slick shell. “… not hard like a shell. His hair was fluffy, maybe? Like, all floppy.”

“You’re doing really well, Elmore,” Kono said, voice still as moderate as ever, though her expression was worried as she shot Steve a look. “Was there anything besides the hair that wasn’t like the picture on his driver’s license?”

“I really don’ remember. Like I said, he was muttering in a weird language or something.”

Flats kept repeating that, and Steve couldn’t make sense of it. Aside from a few phrases in Russian, he didn’t think Danny knew any other languages. He didn’t want to undo the progress Kono’s softer touch had made, so he took his frustration to the back of the room and out of Flats’ line of sight. He didn’t know what would make the guy think Danny wasn’t speaking English, but any explanation that came close to logical wasn’t a good one. A head injury, drugs. It sounded to him like something had happened to Danny to alter his state somehow. The thought made him even more worried, if that were possible. He paced the back wall.

“German, you said before.” Kono divided her attention between Steve’s pacing form and Flats’ twitching one. “Have you heard a lot of German in your life, enough to recognize it?”

Flats nodded, then looked nervous, shook his head. Finally, he shrugged.

“Are you absolutely positive he was speaking a different language at all? I’m starting to think you’re not telling us the truth, Elmore. That’s all we want. What really happened, huh?”

“No,” Flats said. “It might not have been German. I’m not sure that was it. I might not have heard him talkin’ at all. Maybe … maybe he wasn’t doing that okay when I saw him.”

Steve froze, caught Kono’s eye.

“What do you mean?” Kono said. She crouched in front of Flats, her eyes narrowing at the way he shifted closer to her. “Not okay can mean a lot of things and I’d really appreciate it if you tell me what specifically wasn’t okay about him.”

“If I tell you, can I go? I have to go. I don’ like it in here, I can’t breathe good.” Flats turned a pleading gaze on Kono. “I swear, I didn’t do anything wrong. He was already like that.”

“Already like what?” Steve said, walking quickly back around to face Flats directly. His heart raced, spurred by anger and fear. “Tell us.”

“You’ll let me …”

“ _Tell_ us.”

Flats reared back, pressed himself into the chair. His gaze was still bleary, but sharper now with his own kind of fear. He held his hands up, as if to ward Steve off. 

“He was already like that. I swear,” Flats said quickly. “I … he didn’t actually say nothin’ to me. He couldn’t. But I didn’t do it. I didn’t.” 

“What didn’t you do?” Steve said, hands clenched at his sides. “And why couldn’t he say anything to you?”

“Because he was dead. I needed a drink and he wasn’t gonna use his money no more. Dead men don’t have to pay taxes. So, ya see, he didn’t mind that I took his stuff. I didn’t do nothin’ wrong.”

No. No, absolutely not. The word dead rang in his head, echoed there and wouldn’t fade. Steve had never experienced any kind of blackout before to know what they felt like, but he had no recall of putting his hands on Flats until someone was prying him off and manhandling him toward the exit. He started seeing in flashes, the blue light seeming even more ominous in strobe. The terrified look on Flats’ face, the way Kono tried to salvage the situation, the hard lines of Chin’s cheekbones up close in his personal space.

“Steve.” Chin was there suddenly, saying his name. “ _Steve._ ” 

Just like that, whatever had possessed him evaporated. He sagged, allowed Chin to hold most of his weight. The room was filled with his own heaving breaths and Flats’ whimpering. Steve couldn’t trust himself to stay but he also couldn’t leave. 

“You okay?” Kono asked, either of him or Flats. 

Steve wasn’t sure he was, and it was obvious even in his highly adrenalized state that Flats was looking rougher around the edges than before. He hadn’t caused any physical harm, he was sure of that, but Flats looked about ready to pass out. Fuck, he had more control than this. He leaned against Chin and bobbed his head up and down, a lie but he had to get his shit together. He had lost people before and not gone to pieces. He thought about Chin’s well-intentioned, poorly timed advice to take a detour onto a path that hadn’t been fully formed. Danny. Dead. It couldn’t be, because he wanted to explore that path. He was sure of it, now when he’d just been told that it wasn’t possible.

If he’d had that epiphany on Friday, before he unleashed that mixed-up and misplaced shit on Danny, then maybe none of this would have happened. Realistically, Steve knew it was simplistic to put the weight of this on his own shoulders, but Danny could be dead and instead of figuring it all out and working it out, he’d done the complete opposite and given Danny a verbal shove away. He didn’t know what he’d do if the last words he’d spoken to Danny were actually the last. He took a few shaky breaths.

“You need to step out,” Chin murmured.

“No, not until, no,” Steve said, eyes pinned on Flats in the middle of the room and Kono circling him slowly.

“I’m sorry that happened, but it won’t again. See, he’s way over there. Have you ever had someone close to you, someone you considered family?” Kono asked, quiet and pained.

“Once. A long time ago,” Flats said, nodding. His eyes were locked on Steve. “Long time.”

“The man whose wallet you took, he’s a good friend of ours. Commander McGarrett was upset at hearing you say he was dead. Can you understand that?”

“Yeah, yeah, I s’pose.” Flats was whispering now, shaking and nodding his head. “Can I have a drink now?”

“No, not right now. When did you take the wallet, Elmore?” Kono was good. “I promise, you tell us where and when, and I’ll see you get an upgrade in accommodations, maybe something to drink, okay?”

Good woman. As reason righted itself in Steve’s brain, he saw that Kono wasn’t too far behind him as far as losing it went, but she was getting the job done. He finally stopped using Chin as a crutch, and turned to the wall instead. He looked at the floor. They finally had something of a lead to work with, and it only made him feel gutted.

“I didn’t touch him. He was like that,” Flats said again, so earnestly it was impossible to not believe him. “I didn’t.”

“No one here thinks you did.” Kono looked straight at Steve when she said that. “Where was he? When did you see him?”

“Friday, maybe? Real late. I dunno, time don’t matter so much to me.” Flats scratched his head, then his beard. His hands were shaky – lingering fear or the need for that drink he kept asking about. “I think maybe by Kūhiō, or maybe the Hilton? Not far, I never go far, always good grinds picked up at the big man’s truck when no one’s lookin’, ‘s why I went there with my new money. Lots of people who don’ see me but I see them…”

Steve blocked it all out, turned for the door under his own steam this time. Chin and Kono both nipped at his heels and the second they were out of the room, Flats plaintively asking to please be let go, he spun to face them.

“If Flats saw him dead on Friday night, there’s no way Danny would have gone unnoticed by someone in the morning,” Steve said, and he didn’t bother to stifle the fear out of his voice. He thought of the call out earlier, the DB that could have been Danny. “I’m not buying that.”

“He seemed convinced Danny was dead, boss,” Kono said. She chewed on her lip. “Flats is clearly an alcoholic, though. He might be on something else, too. He’s not exactly one hundred percent reliable. Maybe Danny was just passed out?”

That was true, but Steve did believe Flats had seen Danny at some point or another. He refused to believe the dead part. Just, no. It couldn’t be true. He’d spent all day dreading that very outcome, but never had been more determined to refute it. He didn’t think passed out was that much better, if Flats had seen Danny on Friday and he hadn’t turned up in a hospital.

“But where has he been since Flats saw him? Steve’s right, someone else would have spotted him,” Chin said. “HPD’s been getting a number of leads ever since the press conference, and the blurbs on the news. They’re re-airing portions of the press conference at eleven, so we might get more off of that.”

“We need to start combing Waikiki. All of it, and then branch out from there. I don’t care if we go all night.” Steve pulled at the elevator gate and they all climbed aboard. “Kono, take care of our friend in there and then we need to reconnect with all medical facilities. If Danny’s out there, we’re finding him. He’s not spending another night out there alone.”

H50H50H50

Annie Hoh hadn’t had a chance to sit once during her whole shift, or so it felt. She wearily plopped onto a break room chair, normally uncomfortable as sin, and let out a sigh of relief. Her clogs were back-savers, but even they had their limits. She loved her job and that was the only thing keeping her going on days like this. The patients suffered setback after setback, one of them not making it back from his last. She frowned and tried not to dwell. Dwelling made it sadder, and all that more difficult to keep on loving the job. Her eyes landed on the television, on but volume very low. She saw some kind of press conference. Curiosity piqued, she squinted and tipped her head to hear what was going on.

It was a rebroadcast, a snippet on the eleven o’clock news from something held earlier in the day. Annie almost looked away – her job saw enough drama without adding more real world problems. But her attention riveted to the picture that flashed on the screen, a photo of a young man.

“Oh,” Annie said. She shot to her feet and moved closer to the television. “Oh my goodness.”

There was something about his face that struck a chord, she just couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Annie listened as the police chief announced the man was an officer presumed missing since Saturday. She didn’t know who he was, except she did. She tilted her head and then it clicked. 

He was the poor man in Four B, who’d been brought in this morning with a cheekbone fracture and significant dehydration. His face was so severely bruised his features were swollen and the overall effect was that of a mask. But this face on the television screen had strength, and she was positive that their John Doe was, in fact, Detective Danny Williams.

She raced to the phone.

H50H50H50

The number of off duty cops who’d shown up to begin an intensive canvass of the Kūhiō Beach Park and Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Lagoon areas of Waikiki was touching. Steve apparently wasn’t the only one willing to knock on every door on O’ahu to find his partner, and if he saw Cage on the fringes of the search party, he couldn’t find enough class to acknowledge him. He had no idea how Chin had gotten the word out, but beneath the gnawing feeling he wasn’t going to like what they found he was very grateful. He felt a soft touch to his elbow, turned and saw Cath looking up at him with sad, dark eyes.

“Hey,” she said, “we’re going to find him.”

“Yeah,” Steve said.

He knew that if the worst was true and Danny was gone, he still had to end things with Catherine. It struck Steve all of a sudden, standing there with her while looking for someone who’d become more important to him than anyone without even knowing how, and it made him feel like a horrible human being. He’d never gotten around to calling her before, the idea that Danny’s disappearance being tied to him had faded into the background as he’d been held under suspicion. Yet here she was, having heard about Danny through the news, for fuck’s sake, and if that wasn’t a sign she deserved better than he was giving her, he didn’t know what would be. Instead of her presence making him more muddled and confused, it gave him clarity. No matter how the cards fell, she was going to be hurt and he _hated_ that.

The search hadn’t been going on for more than an hour, but to Steve it felt like he’d been looking forever. In his heart, he knew they _weren’t_ going to find Danny out here and his vow to not leave Danny to fend for himself one more night would be broken. The longer they looked without a single sign of his partner, the more he started to believe Elmore Flats had been correct - for some mysterious reason Danny hadn’t turned up anywhere and he was dead. The grimness of that thought threatened to swallow him whole, but also kept him going. He had never wanted to be proven wrong so much in his life. 

“We’ll get you through this,” Catherine said. “It’ll be okay.”

Steve couldn’t do more than shake his head at her, because no, there was no getting through it and there was no okay and he would go out of his skin if something didn’t…

“Steve!” 

He turned and saw Chin running toward him, something akin to awe on his face. He held up his phone.

“He’s alive. Steve, he’s alive and at Queen’s,” Chin said, sounding as stunned as he looked. 

The first irrational thought Steve had was that they should have called _him_ , and then he remembered when the contact information had gone out for leads, he’d been in interrogation. It also was so not the point. 

“What?” Steve said, as they both ran to their vehicles. In a daze, he noted Cath trailed after them and Kono had started notifying the searchers to call it off. “What happened?”

“Apparently Danny was brought in this morning and he’s got some injuries which prevented immediate identification. He’s in rough shape, Steve, but he’s alive.”

Alive. Hope swelled like a tidal wave and obliterated the gloom and doom that had settled over him. After existing in a state of denial, dread and guilt all day, the rapid turnaround made his head spin.

All he could think of as he sped toward Queen’s was how now maybe he had a chance to put things right with Danny, and make the other man know how important he was. With those thoughts, Steve became conscious of Cath next to him in the truck, and it only added to his motivation to change his course. He wasn’t sure how to do it or if the path he wanted to take was two-way, only that he wanted more with Danny than friendship and he was amazed by how much that was true now that he’d let himself go there mentally. 

When they got to the hospital, he trailed after Chin, who had taken the call and therefore knew better where Danny was. He didn’t pay much attention, he only needed to see that Danny was truly okay. He had time now to cross bridges with Danny and maybe burn them with Cath. He almost didn’t notice when Chin stopped at the duty nurse’s desk.

“Detective Williams?” Chin asked.

“Oh,” a petite, exhausted-looking woman said. “Yes, you were on the TV. I’m Annie Hoh, I called it in. He’s right this way. I feel so bad. He came in this morning, but he had no ID and, well, we’ve been so busy … I don’t think anyone had any idea he was someone important. It was only because I had time to put my feet up at the end of shift – I’m off duty, but…”

Steve was barely listening. He wasn’t sure he cared what had happened between Friday night and this morning, as long as Danny would be all right. He definitely didn’t care about her quaint story of how she’d made the connection and identified Danny, as grateful as he would be to her for doing so. When the nurse led them to a man in a white coat and introduced him as Doctor Rampart, Steve tried to be more with it. He should be chomping at the bit to find out who had hurt Danny. He knew this. He also knew his ears were buzzing with adrenaline and relief. When the doctor led them to Danny’s room, not much more than an alcove in a bay of other similar rooms, it was the first time he realized they were in the critical care unit. The thought that Danny might have sustained too many injuries to recover from fully hadn’t occurred to him.

Neither had the specifics of why Danny wouldn’t have been recognized sooner even if someone on hospital staff had seen the press conference earlier in the day.

“Shit, _Danny_ ,” Steve said, rooted to the spot at the sight in front of him.

If he didn’t know Danny as well as he did, Steve might not have instantly recognized him. Deep, purple bruising covered the entire left half of Danny’s face, and he was so swollen his features seemed distorted. Danny had been like that for two full days? Jesus. Steve felt sick. Behind him, someone gasped and he turned to see Kono with a stricken expression which almost mirrored how he felt. He hadn’t even realized she was there. He doubted anything would be able to compare to the emotions warring through him. There was a soft touch to his arm – Cath again – and it got him moving forward. 

“It looks worse than it is, now,” Doctor Rampart said. “He was quite unstable by the time he ended up here, but he’ll likely step down to a regular room tomorrow.”

Steve couldn’t understand how someone could walk around like the way Danny looked, presuming that this had happened prior to Elmore Flats happening upon him unconscious on Friday. He stared at his partner’s face.

“How is that possible?” Chin asked. “He looks so…”

“Awful,” Kono whispered.

“Given the circumstances surrounding Mr. Williams’ arrival here, I think I can let you know that he suffered a significant facial trauma, which is readily apparent. He’s lucky, though. It’s a hairline fracture rather than a full break of the cheekbone, but it appears to have gone untreated for at least twenty-four hours,” Rampart said. “When he was brought in, he was extremely dehydrated and shocky. Coupled with the cheekbone fracture, that means as of yet, he hadn’t regained consciousness with any coherence.”

“Lucky,” Steve said and jerked his arm free from Catherine’s touch again. He drew closer to the bed, took Danny’s lax right hand in his. “He doesn’t look all that lucky to me.”

“No, I suppose he doesn’t.” Rampart fiddled the bags of fluid hooked up to Danny, checked his chart. “Like I said, though, he’s really doing quite well. I anticipate he’ll start coming around shortly. You’re welcome to stay for a bit, as long as you keep it quiet. It might even do him some good to have familiar people around him.”

No more had to be said. There was one chair. Steve claimed it, pulling it to the bed and sitting in it. He released Danny’s hand only to switch his hold to Danny’s forearm. He couldn’t stand how still Danny was, and how the unbruised side of his face was so pale. The whirlwind of the day caught up with him all of a sudden, left him feeling weak in his own right. He didn’t care all that much if anyone thought him weak. He bent and placed his forehead on the edge of the mattress. 

“We’re going to go collect his things, get them to CSU for processing,” Chin said eventually. “We’ll find out how this happened.”

“We’ll come back later,” Kono said. “Call us if he wakes up before we do. We’ll call Rachel, so Grace doesn’t worry anymore.”

Steve lifted his head, scrubbed his free hand down his face. Shit, no way would Danny want Grace to see him like this. And, yeah, they still had to consider this an active investigation. In the morning, he’d care about justice. For now, he was content to sit by Danny’s side until he woke up. He nodded at Chin and Kono, who both smiled at him and shot soft, worried looks at Danny. 

“Maybe we should go,” Cath said. She began massaging his neck. “You look exhausted. It’s been quite a day.”

Steve ducked away, all the while wondering what it would feel like to get a neck massage from Danny. Jesus, he was so screwed in the head. How had he not realized this sooner?

“No,” Steve said. “I’m staying. You go ahead.”

“Steve.”

“Cath, please.” He twisted his torso and looked back at her. “He’s my partner and I need to be here right now. If he wakes up, he’ll need someone he recognizes. After wandering around after god knows what happened to him, at least I can give him that.”

“I get it,” she said, but slowly, like she didn’t really at all, but had started to. Her expression went from concerned to assessing to unhappy comprehension. Her eyes flicked to Danny, then back to Steve. “I’ve known you a long, long time, Steve. You … you are terrible at hiding your deepest feelings. It would have killed you to lose him, wouldn’t it?”

Unable to lie consciously now that he understood he had been doing so unconsciously for a couple of years, Steve nodded. This wasn’t how he’d planned anything in his life to be, and it was awful, amazing and terrifying. 

“Let’s talk later.” Cath squeezed the back of his neck and kissed him on the jaw. “Maybe it’s just a bad time for this.”

“No time’s going to be good,” Steve said. “I think you know that.”

Cath didn’t say another word, left him there with Danny as if she hadn’t heard him. Maybe she hadn’t, or maybe she simply hadn’t wanted to. Steve felt just a hair lighter at having started that discussion, having put up figurative roadblocks as best he could under the circumstances. He circled his thumb against Danny’s forearm, enjoyed the way it rasped against the coarse hair there. 

He bent forward again, rested his chin on his own arm and pinned his eyes on Danny’s misshapen but _alive_ face, as if he could make Danny obey. Steve smiled to himself. Like that would ever happen. He wished like hell he could also make time obey him, so he could go back and tell Danny about all the ways he made his life better just by being there at his side. He’d come too damn close to losing one of the best people he’d ever known. 

“Come on, Danno, I’ve got words to say to you. Why don’t you wake on up now?”

Danny didn’t. Danny didn’t move at all, for hours, and so neither did Steve. The extreme highs and lows of the day caught up with him at some point and he drifted, not quite asleep and not quite awake. He balked when hospital staff tried to make him leave as they monitored Danny, and something in his expression made them relent. 

Finally, a faint muscle twitch beneath his fingertips yanked him back to full awareness. He sat, and glanced at his watch. It was almost dawn. He stretched and what had woken him registered at last. Steve stood, muscles stiff, and saw one bleary, blue eye looking right at him. He smiled.

“Hey,” Steve said. “You have no idea how good it is to see you.”

Danny mumbled something that was too garbled to present as actual language. Immediately, he hissed in pain, the right half of his face reacting dramatically. A few tears leaked from his eye.

“Don’t try to talk,” Steve said. He leaned close, cupped his left hand on Danny’s right cheek. “Just take it easy. I’ll get the doctor. You probably need something for the pain, yeah?”

Danny leaned into his hand, and it felt so natural it made Steve’s heart trip. 

“‘M all right,” Danny said, barely moving his lips as he spoke. His speech was indistinct. “Fuzzy. Happened?”

All right wasn’t the term to use, and memory loss wasn’t surprising, but Steve was still disappointed. 

“You don’t remember?”

Danny grunted a negative.

“The truth is, I don’t know. You were off the radar for two days, and I didn’t...” Steve’s voice gave out. He sat on the edge of the bed, his hand still on Danny’s face. He cleared his throat and pulled his hand away self-consciously. “I … we thought you were gone. Really gone, just like that, and I can’t have you leaving me, Danny.”

“Not gone,” Danny mumbled. “Don’t remember.” 

He stared intently at Steve with his good eye for a few long seconds, and even with the disfiguring injury his expression changes were easy to read. Steve supposed that was a testament to how well he knew his partner. Danny went from confused to determined and then he raised his right hand off the bed and gestured him closer again. Steve bent forward without hesitation, and got a solid punch to the nose for it. He reeled back.

“What the hell?” Steve clutched at his face. “Danny?”

The next words Danny said were all too clear. “ _Asshole_. I remembered something.”

The sting of the blow didn’t last long. It had been more surprise than anything. He kept his hands over his nose and ducked his head down, the three-day buildup of guilt resurging. Steve spared a glace up at Danny after several excruciating moments of silence, and received the second surprise of Danny smirking at him, the right side of his mouth tipped ever so slightly up. 

“It wasn’t…” Steve said, then promptly lost his words to a fit of unexpected giggles. 

Horrifyingly, the giggles quickly turned to half-choked sobs. Steve folded over and pressed his forehead against Danny’s shoulder. He didn’t know why he hadn’t expected the mini-meltdown, or why he couldn’t seem to stop it. 

“I know, babe,” Danny murmured. “‘S okay.”

The left hand, awkward and fumbling, at the nape of his neck felt a little like absolution and a lot like understanding. The touch gave Steve everything he needed to know about detours, and where this one would take him.


	3. Epilogue (The Road So Far)

In a strange and very specific way he thought Danny being injured was a good thing, not that Steve would ever say so out loud. He’d … learned some lessons lately and there was simply no way he’d let his mouth get the better of him again. Not in that way, at least. He smiled and rubbed his fingertips along his lower lip, which had that morning been bitten by a certain enthusiastic detective who formerly belonged to New Jersey but was now his and his alone. He supposed it was more accurate to say that Danny’s mouth had gotten the better of him, there. 

No, he wasn’t glad Danny had been hurt. It was just that he was a leap headfirst kind of guy and Danny was more inclined to dip a toe in, both for work and play situations; had Danny not had lingering headaches and limited mobility of his face, Steve would probably have been all over him the moment he knew he could. He winced at the memory of how livid the bruises had been at first, not to mention the swelling. He didn’t tend to be all or nothing unless it really mattered and, well, to say Danny really mattered was a major understatement. He was embarrassed that it had taken nearly losing out to realize that, though Danny hadn’t made him feel like much of a chump for his density. 

Anyway, the time Danny had needed to recuperate allowed for them to explore exactly what it was they meant to each other. It also afforded them the opportunity to set the ground rules and expectations Danny seemed to thrive on, and also solidified in Steve’s mind that this detour of his was more like a permanent re-direct. A few days in, when Danny had climbed into bed with him like they’d always shared one, he knew there was no going back and that slow for them might seem pretty fast for anyone else. He couldn’t picture himself taking any other route. For all intents and purposes, he’d put up a road closed sign behind him. 

He frowned a bit at the reminder of Catherine, and that she had taken immediate action of her own in a request for reassignment. He could have done better with her, and that was his only regret. He hoped that someday she’d forgive him, even if she never wanted to consider him a friend again. It was awful and telling, though, that his regret with Cath was a tiny pothole in the highway of his happiness.

Jesus, he was turning into a sap. He’d only officially been with Danny such a short time, and already he’d become a great big giant ball of mush. Chances were, he’d always been and had simply been too obtuse to realize it.

Steve’s attempt to make it look like he was doing anything other than alternating his attention between the clock and Danny, across the offices and through open blinds, was flimsy. It was fantastic to have Danny back to work, but it had been a long day and he was champing at the bit to get his partner home, and only nominally because Danny looked exhausted. He’d ever really felt the pull of home over work in previous relationships, such as they were, and it gave him a weird flippy feeling in his gut. That was another thing he wouldn’t mention out loud, but for different reasons – he’d never hear the end of it from Danny, who he suspected was no stranger to a similar feeling himself. He grinned wider. It seemed likely these near giddy feelings would eventually fade, when the newness of him and Danny faded, so he was fully on board with enjoying the proverbial honeymoon phase. Though if he considered it, the only thing that had really changed was the more physical aspect to their relationship. He didn’t see that part losing its appeal anytime soon. 

When Danny shot him an exasperated glare, Steve straightened from the awkward bendy angle he had to pitch himself at to see the other man. He shrugged and glanced at the clock instead. He was being what Danny would call a goof, but he didn’t care. He’d been waiting a while to unleash a minor prank that he’d thought of immediately after he’d heard the story, and it finally seemed like enough time had passed that the somewhat black humor wouldn’t be too inappropriate. Danny’s first day back off of desk duty was a pivotal day. Danny might appreciate it.

Or, Danny would kill him.

_The lack of evidence continued to plague the case. The lab had gotten nothing from Danny’s clothes and he had no defensive wounds to indicate any kind of struggle. The small but ugly cut on his cheek didn’t contain any kind of unique marker to indicate a piece of jewelry. There was as there had been the whole time Danny was gone: nothing. Danny’s return to them didn’t mean they were willing to let it go, though all of them knew they’d have to bump it to the back burner if a more immediate need cropped up. It was, however, never out of mind. As far as Steve was concerned, every time he looked at Danny’s bruised face or saw him wince when he yawned or coughed or sneezed, his determination resurged. Someone had to pay for doing that._

_Danny’s memory of the events immediately preceding and following the blow to his face hadn’t returned. Doctor Rampart and the several other opinions Steve had insisted upon all indicated that was normal. Some people remembered the trauma eventually, usually in bits and pieces, and some just didn’t. Any hit hard enough to induce unconsciousness came with any number of possible complications, and if the guess that Danny had been hit just prior to Elmore Flats discovering him and pilfering his wallet, that meant his head injury had gone untreated for over forty-eight hours._

_“Come on,” Danny said, tugging at Steve’s shirtsleeve. “I can tell you’ve gone all Vengeance Will Be Mine again, and I’m too tired for that bullshit. Let’s call it a night.”_

_It was amazing the ease with which they’d developed comfortable routines. After a week and a few days of sharing a bed with Danny, just to sleep, Steve wasn’t sure he’d be able to rest without the other man next to him. Danny brought consistency just being who he was, and casual was not a word that would ever be associated with him. If Danny were going to be with Steve, it was going to be the full, every night kind of deal. Truth be told, Steve was surprised at how quickly Danny had been okay with the little things – things that included progressively intense kisses (always mindful of his still tender cheek), nights spent tucked under Steve’s arm on the sofa as they watched a game or played one, and squabbling over the appropriate length of time a shower should be._

_“It’s not bullshit, Danny,” Steve said quietly. It would strike him sometimes, low and deep in his belly, how close he’d come to never having this indefinable thing he had. “And I won’t stop.”_

_Steve twisted to face Danny, lifting his right hand and tracing the back of his thumb gently down the fading bruise. From a cop’s perspective, he knew Danny understood why he, Chin and Kono wouldn’t let up until justice was served, but from the standpoint of victim – a term he would balk at being labeled – he seemed more inclined to be grateful to have survived, to have gotten Steve out of it, and to count all of that as victory enough._

_Danny closed his eyes, tipped his head against the back of the sofa and slid away from Steve’s hand._

_“Until we find what we need to get whoever did that to you or you remember, this is going to be on my mind. You know it.”_

_“I do. I know you, you stubborn bastard, and for that reason alone I wish I could remember beyond you being a complete shithead,” Danny said with a sigh. “And don’t give me that look.”_

_“I don’t have a look.”_

_“Babe, you have so many looks.” Danny lifted his head, opened his eyes and then narrowed them. “Yep, there it is. I get it. I already told you I understand exactly why you lashed out and I also told you I’d been there, done that in a previous point in my life. Denial, rivers in Egypt, and missing clue buses, yeah? So please, stop. I punched you for it once, don’t make me do it again.”_

_“I never knew you were so romantic.” This was their no-fly zone, apparently, and Danny was always the same about it – goddamned annoying. And right, which was also annoying. “I’ll bet you write the nicest poetry.”_

_“I’m the second coming of William Fucking Shakespeare,” Danny said. He stared at Steve intently. His attention flicked between Steve’s eyes and his mouth, his tongue poking out to wet his lips. “Oh, speaking of coming…”_

_Suddenly drymouthed and damn, really, Steve didn’t understand how he’d been so oblivious for so long considering how amped up he was about make-out sessions and hand jobs, all they’d accomplished as far as the physicality of them as a them went._

_“Yeah?” Steve asked. “You’re up for it?”_

_“Not right this very second, but with a few tried and true metho–”_

_Danny, as it turned out, was prone to bad puns. Steve silenced him the way he now knew worked the best, by kissing him mid-word, when Danny’s tongue was already limber and in motion. He had more than an inkling, by the way Danny never needed a period of adjustment between talking and kissing, that he had stacked the deck and therefore always knew Steve’s play for precisely what it was. That flippy feeling also happened in those moments he realized how attuned to him Danny was, and the proof that this had been in the works for a long time even if he’d been too obtuse to know it._

_But the flippy feeling didn’t last now, turned quickly into deep need and wantwantwant. Always aware of the bruise and all that could go wrong, Steve moved with caution, his hands merely tracing against Danny’s back and up to the nape of his neck. He tipped Danny’s head just so, to minimize the chances of accidentally bumping into the injured cheek. Danny made a frustrated noise at the back of his throat at the careful pace, broke from Steve’s hand and in half a second was straddled over Steve’s lap and grinding down without any finesse at all._

_“I’m not made of porcelain, McGarrett,” Danny grumbled into his left ear, then sucked on the lobe for a second. “Let’s fucking do this if we’re gonna.”_

_Any blood still going to his brain headed south, and that was another thing Danny did for him without even knowing it. Danny got him out of his head. Steve slid his arms back around Danny’s back, then lower to snug under one fine, fine ass. Once his hold was secure, he stood and smirked at the surprised, possibly affronted, noise Danny made at being picked up so easily. Then Danny simply wrapped his legs around Steve’s lower back and held on tight, moaned at the friction._

_“Jesus, you’re a caveman.”_

_Danny stuck his tongue in Steve’s mouth, removing any sting from the accusation. For a few minutes, Steve stayed right where he was, enjoying the way Danny wriggled against him and the heady heat of the dirty, wet kiss. It didn’t take long for him to start losing a bit of his grip – distraction, need and the fact that Danny was small but not exactly a lightweight – and he headed for the stairs. He moved up them as quickly as he could without tripping, stumbled slightly into the bedroom, where Danny promptly unhooked his legs, extricated himself from Steve’s grasp and had his shirt off in a flash._

_“Eager,” Steve said. He laughed at Danny’s dramatic eyeroll and scathing look at his own obvious erection. He pulled the T-shirt over his head, enthralled at how Danny had somehow gotten totally naked and was stretched out, waiting. Pretty spry for an injured guy. “Unf.”_

_Steve had no plan. He hadn’t once considered doing the whole cheesy rose-petals-strewn-about for their first time more elaborate than a basic grope and tug, but he also knew he had wanted it to go at a certain pace and this wasn’t it. Somehow, he didn’t give a damn. He shimmied out of his pants and crawled onto the bed. He grinned as Danny spread his legs, laughed when Danny again rolled his eyes. He couldn’t remember a time he’d had so much genuine fun in bed._

_He settled in between Danny’s legs, leaned to kiss him again. He ignored Danny’s attempts to intensify, keeping it slow and sweet. Steve knew it the moment Danny gave in and relaxed into things. He felt Danny’s hands stroke along his sides, down his back and latch on his ass, drawing him down. Their cocks brushed against each other, and both of them moaned in unison. Steve shifted, tried to get them slotted better. He broke the kiss, breathless, and fumbled for the nightstand drawer. He pulled out the lube._

_Danny kept his movements slight, just barely undulating against Steve. This need to go fast and slow all at once made Steve’s hands clumsy as he tried to open the lube. He dropped it twice after Danny’s fingers sought and found his entrance, ran a light circle around it._

_“Jesus,” Steve gasped, nerve endings on fire. “You…”_

_He finally got the lube open, fucking fancy bottle wasn’t his preference, and squirted some into his right hand, tossed the bottle aside. Steve wrinkled his nose at the smell, but since he hadn’t replaced the bottle they’d already gone through, this was all he had to work with. Despite Danny’s wandering fingers, he didn’t think they were quite at the penetrative point yet. His dick throbbed at the idea, though. He wrapped his hand around Danny, stroked him a few times to distribute the lube. Instead of bucking into the touch, though, Danny first froze beneath him and then abruptly tried to pull away._

_“What the hell is that?” Danny asked, loud and oddly monotone._

_“What?” Steve raised his hands and recoiled, confused by the sudden change in mood. He studied Danny’s face, noted that he’d gone pale. “Danny, what’s wrong?”_

_“That smell, it’s…”_

_“Coconut. It’s the flavored stuff,” Steve said._

_“Flavored. Why?”_

_“It was a gift. A misguided terrible gift someone I’m going to kill gave me. What’s wrong?”_

_“Ohhh, shit.” Danny touched the scabbed cut on his cheekbone and gazed at Steve, but his eyes seemed almost vacant. Like he wasn’t really there. “It’s … Steve, I…remember.”_

_Steve scrambled from between Danny’s legs to draw alongside his partner. He pulled Danny into a seated position and hugged him close. All thoughts of sex were gone, his only concern for Danny and the unexpected revelation of something that had dogged him for weeks._

_“What? Danny, talk to me. You’re freaking me out here.”_

_“That day, I was so pissed at you,” Danny said, voice still flat. He turned away, eyes unfocused straight ahead, like a thousand-yard stare. “And then the car pissed me off even more. It was like a slap to the face after being punched all day, you know? I went home, changed and then I needed some air. I didn’t have any idea where I was going, but after I wandered for a while I saw I wasn’t far from the Hilton so I figured a drink or two would make it all go away for a few hours.”_

_Steve rubbed his hand up and down Danny’s bicep, aware there was still enough lube on his palm to make it slick and strange and sickeningly sweet-smelling. He tensed as he waited for the whole story to unfold prepared to dash for his phone, get Chin and Kono on the motherfucker while he made sure Danny was okay. He wasn’t prepared for Danny to start chuckling humorlessly._

_“Danny?” he prodded. “Who was it, did you recognize them?”_

_“Not who. What. Jesus, this is embarrassing. I was minding my own business when I heard something from above. I looked up, and that’s when it got me.” Danny swallowed and looked over at Steve, present again. He appeared to be horrified. “No one did anything to me. A fucking coconut beaned me. A coconut, Steve. I knew this damn island had it in for me. I remember it hurtling at my face and that’s all she wrote, until the hospital.”_

_Well. Okay. For a second or two, Steve tried to process what Danny had just told him. After that, he couldn’t decide if it was a relief or the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard in his life. He decided on ridiculous relief, and a hysterical laugh threatened to bubble out of him from his gut._

_“I swear to all that is good and right with our sex lives, I will castrate you if you laugh right now, Steven,” Danny said, though he’d already kind of laughed himself. “I lost two days of my life because of a coconut.”_

_It wasn’t funny, not the actual incident. The signs posted warning of falling coconuts were there for a reason, after all. At the same time, it was hilarious in that totally irrational it’s-all-over-closure kind of way, and in that it was like Danny’s hatred for the islands had come back to bite him in vivid, brutal terms. Steve was a mess of emotions again, and it was difficult to sift through them. But he swallowed the unfunny funniness, and the song that popped, unbidden, into his head._

_“Hey, I’m not laughing,” Steve said. “You lost two days and I lost you for those same days. That was nothing like funny to me, Danny. At least now we know, and we don’t have to feel like it could happen again at any moment.”_

_The truth in that statement struck him. Behind the need to find justice for what had happened to Danny, there really had been an element of fear that it truly had been someone in his past seeking to hurt him. Steve realized, though, what a hidden weight that had been. He couldn’t rule it out in the future, though, and he had to take steps to ensure Danny was safe, always._

_“Okay, stop with that,” Danny murmured, wriggling free from him and resuming a straddled position in his lap. His hands explored Steve, already well aware of hot spots. He tweaked a nipple, leaned in and bit tenderly at the scar on Steve’s collarbone. “Maybe we need to refocus on what we were doing before. Reaffirming life.”_

_Now that, Steve could get behind._

Steve smiled as he watched Danny shut down his office, lock up confidential files and toss him a few semi-impatient looks. He’d done all that an hour ago. Sue him, he wasn’t actually trying to be subtle. He stood up easily and met Danny by the tech table.

“You’re so transparent, babe,” Danny said. He caught Chin and Kono’s attention, waved to them both. “It’s kind of embarrassing.”

“What can I say? I have important things to do tonight,” Steve said, smug. “You know.”

“I can see my mistake was not putting anything in writing. Workplace etiquette, McGarrett.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve said. He caught Chin’s eye, shared a smile and a knowing nod. “It’s not like anyone cares.”

They sauntered out to the Camaro, where Steve took his customary place behind the wheel. He waited until they got going for a bit, then casually turned on the stereo. Instantly, the small interior of the car was filled with the sound of a simple, recognizable guitar riff and Danny spluttered.

“Seriously. You seriously…” Danny said just as Harry Nilsson started singing and drowned him out. He slammed his hand against the stereo before Harry got to the word dime. He twisted in his seat, eyes flashing with heat and humor. “I just hate you so much sometimes and I am going to make you pay for this.”

Steve choked on his laughter, because Danny said one thing, but he had managed to get his hand deep into Steve’s lap and had him by his … coconuts. 

“If you call me in the morning, I’ll tell you what to do,” Steve said, voice rough.

Danny burst into a happy giggle and proceeded to shift his hand and rub Steve just to the edge, all the way home. 

By some miracle – maybe it was fate – Steve managed to keep them on the road they had clearly always been meant to be on together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, don't throw coconuts at me. LOL. Whoop, for anyone who doesn't catch the song reference: Harry Nilsson sings a song called Coconut, or commonly known as (Put the Lime in the) Coconut.


End file.
